MasukMERRY CHRISTMAS šš¤
I've been staring at this screen trying to figure out how to say what I want to say without sounding like a Hallmark card lol... but here goes.
Thank you.
Like genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Do you know what it feels like to be a small author? It feels like shouting into the void and hoping someone hears you. It feels like putting pieces of your soul into a story and wondering if anyone will care. It feels like refreshing your stats at 3am just to see if one more person clicked.
And then you showed up.
You clicked. You read. You stayed. You voted. You commented. You added my book to your library like it mattered.
And to me? That's everything.
That's you saying "I see you and I pick you." Out of all the books on this app, you picked mine. Do you know how insane that is? How grateful I am?
So here's my Christmas wish... if this book has made you feel something, anything... would you leave me a review? š„ŗš
It doesn't have to be perfect. Just real. Just you and your thoughts and your words. Tell me what you loved, what you hated, what made you scream into your pillow lol. I want to hear it all.
Reviews are how other readers find me. But more than that... hearing from you reminds me why I do this.
Merry Christmas, loves. You're making my dreams come true and you don't even know it š¤
ā Remi š¤
EMBERāS POVDinner comes together faster than I expected ā some kind of pasta dish with roasted vegetables and garlic bread that fills the safehouse with smells rich enough to make my stomach cramp with hunger.I didnāt realize how empty I was until the food was in front of me.We eat at the small table, all four of us crammed together, and for a little while it almost feels normal.Like weāre just friends sharing a meal, not fugitives hiding out in a safehouse while enemies circle and conspiracies unravel.Queenie chatters about the Summit, about Rayana holding down the fort, about a hundred small pieces of gossip that donāt matter but help fill the silence.Sheās good at that ā filling silences. Making spaces feel warmer than they are.Knox sits close to me, his thigh pressed against mine under the table.Every so often his hand finds my knee, squeezes, like he needs to keep reminding himself Iām here. That Iām real. That I didnāt disappear while he wasnāt looking.And I lean into h
EMBERāS POVThe break-in at the penthouse. The flash drive Logan was searching for. The recordings that got leaked to the council ā recordings that almost got me sent back to Gale.Nathaniel knowing something about that night, something from years ago, something that Logan now knows too.Something he doesnāt want Knox to be aware of.What is Nathaniel hiding? Did he sell Knox out to Logan? And if so ā why? What could possibly be worth betraying the man heās served for over a decade?My heart hurts for Knox. For this man who trusts so few people and might be about to discover that one of the few he does trust has been lying to him all along.I canāt sit on the other end of the couch anymore. Canāt keep this distance between us when heās hurting like this.Against his resistance, I crawl across the cushions and into his lap, straddling him before he can stop me.āEmberāāI kiss him, soft and slow, swallowing whatever protest he was about to make.My hands find his jaw, thumbs stroking a
EMBERāS POVāUnless a few council members tattled to Harrison over the years, and Gale got wind of it. Then Gale told him.ā He shakes his head. āItās possible. Gale and Logan were close. But still ā the things Logan implied he knew⦠those arenāt things that should have made it outside that room.āI freeze inside.Because I remember Loganās break into the penthouse. Tearing through Knoxās office. Searching for something ā a flash drive, Nathaniel had said.And suddenly Iām wondering if itās all connected. The break-in, the secrets, whatever Logan knows that Knox doesnāt.āIs there anything else that happened that night?ā I ask slowly, carefully, trying to keep my voice neutral even as my heart pounds. āAnything that could be⦠damning? Something someone might want to use against you?āKnox shakes his head, frustration bleeding into every line of his body.āI canāt remember. Thatās the whole fucking problem, Ember. I donāt even know how Logan knows what he knows, or what exactly he knows
EMBERāS POVItās bigger than I expected ā industrial, clearly some kind of converted warehouse, but someone has made an effort to make it livable.Thereās a couch, a kitchen area, a table covered in papers and tablets and what look like security reports.Knox is standing at the counter with his back to me, dressed in fresh clothes, his hair still damp. Heās gripping the edge of the counter hard enough that his knuckles have gone white.He turns when he hears me.And stops.His gaze travels down my body slowly ā the oversized shirt, the bare legs, the obvious lack of anything underneath ā and when his eyes meet mine again, theyāre burning gold.Then he bolts across the room.One second thereās space between us, and the next he has me pinned against the wall, his hands slamming on either side of my head, his body caging me in completely.āWhat are you doing?ā His voice is a low growl. āNathaniel is around. Youāre going to put on some shorts right now, Ember.āI look up at him through my
EMBERāS POVThe kiss is desperate, consuming, nothing like the gentle comfort from before. This is need. This is hunger.This is two people who almost lost each other trying to prove that theyāre still breathing.I reach between us and wrap my hand around his cock and fuck ā heās bigger than usual.Thick and hard and so swollen the veins are bulging under my fingers, the tip flushed and angry and dripping precum down my knuckles.The sound he makes against my mouth is filthy ā a tormented sound between a growl and a groan that vibrates through my whole body ā and his hips jerk forward, shoving more of that fat cock into my grip like he canāt help himself.I stroke him slowly, feeling every ridge and vein drag against my palm, feeling him pulse and throb in my hand like heās got a heartbeat there.Heās so big my fingers barely wrap around him. So hard it looks almost painful.āEmber.ā My name sounds like a prayer and a warning all at once, his voice tortured. āWe shouldnātāāāShh.ā I s
EMBERāS POVI remember the way he launched himself toward me. The way his body curled around mine, shielding me completely.The way he took arrow after arrow into his own flesh just to keep them from reaching me.āI know,ā I whisper. āThank you. You saved me. You somehow always do.āWe sit in the quiet for a while, just breathing together. Then I ask a question that has been at the back of my mind.āWhat happened after I went out? Where is Harrison? Is heā¦āGoddess. I hope he was.āHarrison went off the cliff,ā he says, his voice hardening slightly. āWe havenāt found a body. He might still be alive.āMy heart drops.āAnd Gale?āSomething dark and satisfied flickers through his expression.āWell, you handled that yourself, didnāt you? Heās in the basement, and he is barely breathing.āGood, I think, and the coldness of it doesnāt even surprise me anymore.āThereās more.ā Knoxās jaw tightens. āThe transfer wasnāt random. Harrison didnāt act alone ā the custody guards handed Gale over wi







